B

By Ed Chatterton and Megan Jones

Hundreds of stranded fish have been rescued from a flooded field three months after a giant sinkhole caused a canal to collapse.

The dramatic breach of the canal in Whitchurch, Shrops., just before Christmas swallowed up two narrowboats and left another teetering over the edge.

The occupants were left with no possessions and nowhere to live after their boats were engulfed by the 50m (164ft) by 50m (164ft) sinkhole on December 22 last year.

Hundreds of fish were also swept into a neighboring farmer’s field when an estimated 100 million gallons of water escaped from the Llangollen Canal.

On Wednesday, March 18 a specialist rescue team stepped in to save an estimated 1,000 fish – including roach, perch, gudgeon, bream, ruffe and even critically endangered European eels.

The Canal & River Trust (CRT) worked to safely return the fish back to the canal after they spent three months living in the temporary lake, which formed in the field and was six feet deep in places.

John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager at the CRT, said he expected “about 1,000 fish totaling around 200lb” to be rescued.

He added: “The fish appear to be in good health having temporarily been rehomed in a field of water for two months.

“The breach has had a real impact on people living and working on the canal and nearby, and this rescue is one small but important step in putting things back together.”

An initial rescue mission had been planned for two weeks ago, but the flooded field, previously home to dozens of sheep, was still too deep for rescuers to reach the fish.

Using specialist fisheries equipment, the rescue team temporarily stunned the fish using a low-voltage electric current then carefully lifted them into aerated buckets and transported them back to the canal.

The CRT said it was a “safe and widely-used fisheries management technique” that temporarily immobilizes the fish and allows them to be collected without harm.

Work began to retrieve the narrowboats in January, and overall repairs to the area could take about nine months and cost more than £3m, the trust believe.

An investigation into what caused the 200-year-old embankment to cave in along with a plan for the repair is still ongoing.